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From left Nancy McManamon of Waverly, George Clarks of Clarks Green and Michael O'Brien of Scranton are out and about for featured speaker Fran Lebowitz at the Lackawanna County Library System's fourth annual American Masters Lecture at Scranton Cultural Center at The Masonic Temple in Scranton on Thursday, Nov 8, 2012. Jake Danna Stevens / Staff Photographer

Their paranoia felt palpable. Suddenly, a few people in the sixth floor room where the Lackawanna County Board of Elections met Monday started to question whether people of Indian descent in a handful of city precincts who voted in the Nov. 7 election actually had the right to vote.

They questioned whether the Indians had earned American citizenship, the chief requirement for legally registering to vote and a requirement simply assumed for most who live in the United States and register to vote.

The setting was a hearing on Republican mayoral candidate Jim Mulligan’s request for a recount in his race. His lawyer, Anthony Lomma, questioned whether the counts were off in a handful of precincts, mainly the 9th Ward’s 1st and 2nd precincts, and the 17th Ward. Lomma pointed to much lower numbers of votes cast in lesser races like recorder of deeds than the big ones like district attorney.

The paranoia emerged not long after Michael O’Brien, Mayor Bill Courtright’s lawyer, told the board the Republican Party or the Mulligan campaign, or both, had tried to thwart Indians from voting.

Before the election, the party challenged more than 100 absentee ballot applications filed mainly by Indian registered voters.

On Election Day, Lomma tried to prevent translators at the polls, O’Brien said.

Lomma denied trying to block translation. He wanted to prevent pointing at a ballot because a judge of elections forbade that, but the board conversation headed in a different direction.

“Why would there be non-English speaking voters at a poll?” County Commissioner Laureen Cummings asked. “Don’t they have to be able to read a ballot? I don’t know.”

Under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 and a 1975 amendment, voters don’t have to know how to speak, read or write English to vote. They just have to be American citizens, a fact that O’Brien pointed out.

“As a result, you are allowed to have interpreters at polls. And those interpreters can assist American citizens with voting,” O’Brien said. “You can also do that for people who can’t see, for people who can’t read. It’s not just Indian Americans.”

“That’s a disability, though,” Cummings pointed out, referring to the blind and illiterate.

Yes, but the law allows interpreters. You have to sign an affidavit saying you want help voting, but the law allows help. In fact, in three Pennsylvania counties — Berks, Lehigh and Philadelphia — and dozens of other locales across the country, federal law requires providing ballots in the native languages of minority populations once the populations reach at least 5 percent of the voting age population. You can look it up online in the Federal Register, page 63602, Oct. 13, 2011.

“I thought you had to be able to speak English to take the citizenship test, correct?” asked Marie Schumacher, a gadfly at public meetings.

Yes and no.

Yes, everyone under 50 has to speak English and take the test in English, according to a federal Department of Homeland Security webpage.

No for 50 and older lawful permanent residents for at least 20 years, 55 or older and lawful permanent residents for at least 15 years and 65 or older and lawful permanent residents for at least 20 years. People with medical disabilities could be exempted. None of these groups must speak English and can take the civics test in their native language.

“What I want to know is the people in 9-1, 9-2, 10-1 and 10-2, I want to see proof, not just check marks, ‘Are you a citizen of the United States?’” said Fay Franus, another gadfly. “I want to see the paperwork that proves that they are citizens. ... Prove it. How do we do this and are you going to make sure that this is done?”

Everybody, when they register to vote, must check yes in a box that asks if they are a citizen.

“They fill out their application, they certify that they are citizens of the United States of America. They provide their Social Security (number). If they are incorrect, if they’re lying, that is fraud, and they could be charged with a crime for doing that,” Frederickson said. “But for us to check every single registration that came in, we would have to hire a staff of I don’t know how many people. You can’t just pick precincts,” Frederickson said. Lackawanna County has 141,000 registered voters. “You’d have to check every one of them.”

“Well, I have no problem with that,” said Cummings. “Something has to be done.”

Frederickson pointed out that checking everyone’s citizenship could cost the county a lot of money, requiring the hiring of dozens of people just to do that. That’s a job for the state or federal government, he said.

By the way, Alpesh Patel, a leader in the Indian community, told us the Indians who voted are citizens.

This sounds like a search for a problem that hasn’t turned into a real problem.

Maybe the Mulligan campaign, which we hear is still looking into alleged absentee ballot shenanigans, will find something. Earlier this week, conservative columnist Lowman S. Henry wrote that the state has failed to explain how about 1,000 foreign nationals registered to vote or voted in the presidential election last year.

The right might turn out right, but they might think about a different approach. For years, critics have labeled Republicans as the party of white people. In this election, Courtright sought the votes of Indians, and it sure looks like he got them.

Maybe Republicans should set aside their paranoia once in a while and try that, too.

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